40 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • FEBRUARY 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
Pursuit founder and CEO explains partnership with Amazon in Queens
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Of the 45 community members
who gathered at the Long Island City
Partnership on Jan. 24 for the fi rst full
meeting of the Community Advisory
Committee for the Amazon HQ2 project,
perhaps nobody had the perspective
of Jukay Hsu, the founder and CEO of
Pursuit, the nonprofi t once known as the
Coalition for Queens.
It was Hsu and his team that originally
had the vision of the Long Island City
Innovation Center, the massive mixeduse
project the city was going to build
with TF Cornerstone at Anable Basin.
“When Amazon came along with its
HQ2 site, Pursuit is now playing the
role as co-developer, community partner,
and operator,” Hsu said. “We’re excited
that Amazon will be a good longterm
partners in achieving this joint
vision. Amazon is coming to Queens, and
Pursuit is bringing Queens to Amazon.”
And yet, Hsu is profoundly aware of
the thought split among residents, elected
offi cials and business owners in western
Queens regarding Amazon coming to
Long Island City especially with the nearly
$3 billion incentive package that lured
the richest corporation in the world to the
shores of the East River.
“Yes, we are now a long-term business
partner with Amazon but we want
to make sure it benefi ts Queens and the
community,” Hsu said. “And we are here
to make sure it’s done in the right way.
We want to make sure this works.”
A new HarrisX poll released on Feb.
5 revealed that a solid majority of registered
voters in New York City approve
of Amazon coming to Long Island
City. Roughly seven in 10, or 69 percent,
approve of the proposed campus.
In Queens, the poll shows support for the
project is even higher at 80 percent who
think it is likely Amazon’s HQ2 campus
will raise property values and boost the
city’s economy.
Hsu is more concerned that members of
his burgeoning tech community is western
Queens, including Pursuit’s Fellows
and graduates, will have access to the
25,000 new jobs, space for training, and
offi ces for entrepreneurs. Since launching
in 2011, the nonprofi t has enabled
close to 500 graduates work their way out
of poverty through computer programming
training.
“Th e industry has created more wealth
and jobs than ever before, but these
opportunities weren’t reaching everyone,
so we set out to give talented people the
opportunity they deserved,” Hsu said.
Raised in Flushing, the Taiwanese
immigrant joined the Army following his
graduation from Harvard and commanded
a rifl e platoon in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle,
where it conducted patrols and raids. Hsu
also led economic development and governance
initiatives for two Iraqi districts,
which culminated in the founding of the
fi rst private provincial radio station with
Iraqi reporters.
Hsu was awarded the Combat
Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star, the
fourth-highest individual military award,
for his service. Upon his return to Queens,
Hsu founded Coalition for Queens to cultivate
Queens’ diversity into a hub for
technology and innovation.
Now known as Pursuit, Hsu believes
a partnership with Amazon will ensure
their “talented adults with the highest
need and potential” will seize opportunities
so they can launch meaningful tech
careers and start companies of the future.
Still, Hsu is mindful of the opponents of
the HQ2 campus.
“We understand that some of or stakeholders
have genuine concerns about the
impact that Amazon HQ2 may have on
our community and while we appreciate
those concerns, we believe that having
a seat at the table — and by partnering
with the city, state, Amazon and others
— we will be better positioned to deliver
positive value to our community,” Hsu
said. “We are long-standing leaders in the
neighborhood and our community. As
such, it is our role and responsibility to
ensure that Amazon’s move to the city
creates life-changing benefi ts for Fellows,
graduates and others.”
Petition urges pols to address overdevelopment in Maspeth & Woodside
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A petition on Change.org is calling
on politicians representing Maspeth and
Woodside to take action on conversions
of homes and buildings to multi-family
dwellings, which the author, who only
goes by Nadia M., claims is spreading
unabated in her community.
Almost at its goal of 100 at 82 signatures,
the author says they have toured
homes in the community and claims they
are being renovated and fl ipped for cash
in one form or another, and that this has
an “urbanizing” eff ect on the neighborhood.
Nadia M. directed the petition at
Councilman Robert Holden and
Assemblyman Brian Barnwell whose districts
cover those communities.
“Th ird-parties have been converting
homes into rooms-to-rent style lodgings
and in the process have tarnished our
neighborhoods sic appeal,” the author
of the petition wrote. “Th ey have extended
the physical layouts of houses creating
an awkward appearance in comparison
to the rest of the houses in the vicinity,
cut trees, and manufactured balconies
that violate the privacy of others in the
vicinity. I have personally visited an open
house recently where such a ‘project’ has
been completed and encourage you to see
for yourself the impact to the community
both optically and practically … Th ey are
merely patching up houses to fl ip them. I
refuse to call them homeowners as they
are only concerned with profi ting and do
not have any care for the neighborhood
we live in.”
Holden responded to the petition saying
that the buildings mentioned by the
petition author – 50-18 61st St, and 50-09
63rd St. – are all within the scope of the
current zoning laws, but that he is working
to have the neighborhood downzoned.
“Th e Department of Buildings has
conducted inspections in this area of
Woodside, and so far all of the buildings
in question are being built according
to the current codes and are not violating
zoning laws,” Holden said. “Th is is
why I remain committed to the request
I have made for City Planning to create
a one-family row house zone that would
downzone the neighborhood and prevent
such alterations in the future.”
Holden introduced a bill in September
titled Intro. 1126 aiming to create an
interagency task force to deal with illegal
conversions throughout the city.
Currently in the Committee on Housing
and Buildings, the illegal conversions and
occupancies task force bill will produce
an annual report on illegal conversions
and advise on policy changes which could
prevent it in the future.
It would be comprised of representatives
from multiple agencies who will
hold regular hearings in each borough.
“One of the biggest concerns we receive
is about illegal conversions,” Barnwell
said. “We constantly send these complaints
to the Department of Buildings for
investigation, and we continuously follow
up. Anyone that sees these illegal conversions
should immediately call our offi ce
(718-651-3185) and we will report it.”
File photo
Jukay Hsu
Photo via Google Maps
A petition is calling on elected offi cials to take action on overdevelopment.
/Change.org
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